Tom Brady’s company on Jan. 29 suggested that he is retiring, but his agent declined to confirm and the business later deleted its social media post.
ESPN, citing unnamed sources, said the 44-year-old Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback was retiring after 22 seasons.
Shortly after, Brady’s TB12sports company wrote on social media: “7 Super Bowl Rings. 5 Super Bowl MVPs. 3 League MVP Awards. 22 Incredible Seasons. Thank you for it all, @TomBrady”
Don Yee, Brady’s agent, told news outlets in a statement that he couldn’t confirm that Brady was retiring, but he also did not deny the quarterback was leaving the NFL.
“I understand the advance speculation about Tom’s future. Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what’s being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon,” Yee said.
Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., told KRON-TV that his son is not retiring and his mother told an NBC station in the San Francisco area that “I think his family would know first.”
Yee’s firm and the Bucs’ media office didn’t pick up the phone while requests for comment from Brady sent to Bucs’ spokespersons weren’t returned.
“I'll know when I know. It’s a day after the season. I think for all of us, we can decompress a bit. It’s been six straight months of football, every day, consumed by day in and day out football. And I think now it’s just the time to spend some time with my family, spend some time with my kids,” he said.
“As I’ve gotten older, I think the best part is, football is extremely important in my life and it means a lot to me, and I care a lot about what we’re trying to accomplish as a team, and I care a lot about my teammates. The biggest difference now that I’m older is I have kids now too, and I care about them a lot as well. They’ve been my biggest supporters. My wife is my biggest supporter. It pains her to see me get hit out there. She deserves what she needs from me as a husband and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad,” he continued.
Brady said the family would figure out what they wanted together.
“A lot of people thought I was done playing football in 2015,” he added later. “For me, every year I just have to make sure that I have the ability to commit to what the team really needs. If I feel like I’m not committed to that, or I can’t play at a championship level, you got to give somebody else a chance to play.”
Brady spent most of his career with the New England Patriots, helping the team win six Super Bowls.
In 2020, he joined the Bucs. His first year with the team, they won the Super Bowl.
The Bucs were defeated by the Los Angeles Rams in a close game in the Divisional Round of this year’s playoffs.
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